VISTA: Community Clinic gives children free dental services

Over the last couple of years, dentists have screened more than
3,000 local children as part of a partnership between the Vista
Community Clinic and schools in Oceanside and Vista.

The clinic has paid for the A+ Teeth Program since early 2009
with federal stimulus money, providing screenings, fluoride
treatments and sealants to young students in the Vista Unified and
Oceanside Unified school districts.

Any student in first, second or third grades at schools that
chose to participate can get a free screening and fluoride through
the program, which is expected to end at the end of this school
year, unless another funding source is found, said Jenny Jones,
spokeswoman for the clinic.

Twenty schools have signed up for the service. Dentists visit
the campuses for about a week, seeing any student whose parents
request it. Usually about half the students sign up for the
screening, Jones said.

Last week, the clinic set up shop in a classroom at Garrison
Elementary School in Oceanside.

Derrick McCullough, a third-grader there, said he enjoyed the
experience of getting sealant put on four of his molars.

"I thought it was going to hurt, but it was actually a little
fun," he said.

It's important for children to have healthy teeth because
physical health can have an effect on education, Principal Margie
Oliver said.

"If they're hurting or if their health isn't good, it slows down
their learning," she said.

The program is for younger grade-school students because that's
usually when children begin to get their first permanent molars,
Jones said.

In addition to the more than 3,000 students getting check-ups,
more than 1,600 got sealants on their young molars. Of the students
screened, more than 1,000 had cavities and nearly 600 had urgent
needs, including root canals or tooth extractions.

Many students probably have never seen a dentist before, said
Phong Lu, one of the two dentists at the clinic working with the
schools.

"It gives them some exposure to having stuff in their mouth so
that when they go to the dental office, they're not as scared," he
said. "I think that's very important."

It also gives the dentists a chance to teach the students a bit
about dental hygiene, he said.

Plus, Lu said he gets a kick out of doing the screenings on
campus because many children get excited to see the dentists show
up in their white lab coats.